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Thankful: January 2018

I hope that on this last day of the first month of the year you still feel motivated and eager to make the most of the year. Now’s the time to review those goals you made and see if they are serving you or if you want to replace them with other goals. And one thing I like to do is make time to give thanks for the month that was.

Here’s my thankful list this month.

Help me thank God for surviving the worst of winter (to date). It has been cold here. I know it’s not a contest regarding which city or country is the coldest but please if you plan to move to Ontario, Canada, prepare for c-o-l-d. Like 30 or more degrees below zero cold. It cannot be imagined; you must come and experience it!

The other thing I’m thankful for is getting my replacement headphones—which ended up being an upgrade—and there’s a story behind this. I take the bus to work; it’s a two-hour round-trip commute. I love podcasts and training videos and what better time than my commute to consume this type of content. Now that I have 10 glorious gigabytes of data each month I can catch more of these things on the go than ever before! This is why having headphones is essential.

I bought my headphones in September 2016 and by August 2017, one side had stopped working—the sound wasn’t coming through anymore. I did what I usually do in these cases: I tweeted about it. I got a reply asking me to email customer service. I emailed them and included a copy of my receipt with my email (they didn’t ask for it).

Within 24 hours I got a reply telling me to return the broken headphones and I’d receive a brand new replacement. I procrastinated on this and didn’t ship out my old ones until October. While I was in Nigeria the replacement headphones were shipped to my house and my neighbour kept them for me.

Now this is where the story takes a bad turn. I let my neighbour know that I was back in town but I was staying at my parents’ place so I would tell her when I was back at home. However, she saw my car in parking lot and left the package at my door while I was at work and guess what? Someone stole it!

I emailed the guy I had been interacting with, Jose, and told him that I didn’t receive headphones and he said they had proof that they had been delivered. I told him that it’s true but I did not receive them and I asked if I could speak with someone from the delivery company because I knew that such things are insured (when I had mailed the broken headphones I had a certain amount of insurance coverage included in the shipping cost that I paid). Jose checked with the delivery company and informed me that I would receive another pair of headphones—thank God!

I asked the company to change the delivery location to my office and not my front door (for obvious reasons) and I received the replacement headphones. They’re even better than the ones I had before! They’re wireless which is so handy at this time of the year with the extra gear I’m wearing to stay warm—I no longer have to worry about tangling my scarf with the cord of my headphones.

The favour doesn’t stop there! I borrowed a bunch of library books and they were a few days overdue. My bill was $10.50 but one of the late days was a really bad weather day, and employers were sending their staff home. I heard that sometimes the library will forgive part of your debt if the weather is really bad on a due date so I decided to ask. The lady who served me said she wasn’t sure if they could do anything about it but she would check. After she checked she said, “Because I’m a good Christian I’ll do it”. I waited patiently to get my new bill and guess what? She had forgiven the whole debt! I even clarified that it was only January 12’s bill that I was hoping to not pay for and she said the whole debt had been erased—oh happy day!

If you haven’t read Part 5 of the Unexpected series, then you don’t know that I was asking my dentist and her husband how they met when I was trying to understand how love works! Anyway, I had a dentist appointment last week and I found out that my dentist was a Christian and I thank God for that! It made my day to know her beliefs and maybe that’s part of why I’ve been her patient for 25 years!

I shared an Instagram Live that you should help me thank my boss. Unfortunately, I didn’t save the video but what I want you to know is that if you feel that you have a skill that is underappreciated or undervalued, don’t worry. If this skill is related to your passion I know that if you choose to, you will find an opportunity where you will be celebrated for this very talent that seemed like not such a big deal to someone else. Sometimes we waste a lot of time trying to convince people to see that what we bring to the table is awesome when our energy would be spent bringing our talent to people who are starving for it already.

Each month I try to share the significant things that I’m thankful for but there are many other things that warrant thanks, things like waking up each morning, remembering an important time-sensitive task just in time, not falling on the slippery ice, having enough money in the bank to cover a particularly high credit card bill, having something I spent hours or days worrying about not happen at all, sharing tender moments with family members. I’m thankful that I don’t have to think long to find something to be thankful for and while I may not feel happy every day, when I count my blessings, as cheesy as it sounds, I’m thankful.

5 thoughts on “Thankful: January 2018”

Those are great things to be thankful for! I’m so thankful that I have wonderful parents who help me so often with the kids. Mom pretty much lives here now and because of that I can get some things done in a day.

I’m thankful for my kids and my husband. I really can’t imagine my life without them.

I’m also thankful for my friends who can give me a break of only hearing baby talk!

There’s so much I have to Thank God for in the past month.
1) My mum recovering from cancer and getting stronger and stronger as the day goes by is a miracle on its own.
2) My dad re-starting his business after a long time and securing a new house in Lagos is a big testimony.
3) My sister going to Lagos and coming back safely with no issues.
4) My relationship is at a place now that I know Could only be because of God, so many times i wanted to quit and just let go but God has been so faithful.
5) My spiritual growth since last month is amazing the way God speaks to me, amazes me in ways I have also wanted. the ability to fast with no food for 21days … mehn… that could only have been God.

Hello! I'm Jummy, also known as Good Naija Girl or GNG. I'm Nigerian by parentage, Canadian by citizenship, and American by birth. I use this blog to help me find a balance between the different aspects of my identity that have been battling each other for ...more